Work expected to close Ebey Slough bridge over weekend

Herald staff

MARYSVILLE -- Unless it's raining hard, the Highway 529 bridge into Marysville is set to close tonight and is scheduled to remain closed through the weekend.People who drive the bridge over Ebey Slough will have to choose a different route from 8 tonight through 5 a.m. Monday. The weekend detour uses Fourth Street in Marysville and I-5. Bicyclists and pedestrians can be escorted through the closure if needed. For the past year, demolition crews have used half of the new bridge as a staging area to rip down the old Ebey Slough bridge.With the removal of the old bridge, drivers will finally be able to use all of the new, wider bridge after this last bit of work.State Department of Transportation crews plan to remove the concrete barrier between drivers and the demolition staging area. Once the barrier is gone, the roadway will be striped for traffic in each direction. The bridge will reopen by Monday with four lanes for vehicle traffic and bike lanes on each side. Transportation engineer Mark Sawyer anticipates that it will be a big change for drivers who use the bridge to commute and ease traffic during the evening commute from Everett.When the weather improves in May, a final layer of asphalt will be applied.The state built the new bridge to replace the 85-year-old Ebey Slough bridge. For details, graphics and photos, go to www.wsdot.wa.gov/projects/sr529/ebeysloughbridge.

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